So I have been producing more and more industrial type music lately. Think Gravity Kills, NIN, Filter, and the likes.

I generally have been using real drums and/or things that sound like real drums... at this point in the song it sound more like straight up rock. I started putting in percussion loops with some distortion and it turns my songs into more like something your would hear from Filter... which I really like.

I'm trying to find an easier way to do this or something that will give me more control. Is there a virtual instrument that has patterns I could use for backing beats to layer with the real drums. I'm tired of going through loops I have from Big Fish to find something that works. I'm thinking it would be easier with some sort of percussion sequencer. Maybe FXPansion Geist or Battery. I never messed with any of these and I'm curious if they would help with what I'm trying to do.

Thanks,
BR

 

Look, there is no industrial drums... but you need lot of techniques and knowledge to make industrial sound with mixing fx and mastering.
Pick this song of NIN:

Drums are drums, lot of distortion, but they are processed and maybe mixed and layered with some sampled drums.
Because of that they are NIN, and Depeche mode is Depeche mode.

 

I think he means background loops where you only have to add a kick, a snare and hihats. Groove shadows, undescores loops. That kind of things

Something like this could do the trick
http://www.sampleism.com/fl-souto/1352-industrial-loops

But you can use anything from heavyocity like Evolve, Damage, Aeon, etc

Try Audio Imperia and Audio Modern stuff. Glitchee and Sync are good rythmic atonal loops generators !

Output Sounds Signal could be a great thing too. Only rythmic pulses there...

EDIT : I would had Aphelion Cinematic Loops. Definitely industrial material there even if sold as Cinematic...

 

Last edited: Apr 9, 2016

I think you're on the right track with FXpansion's Geist, since you seem to prefer to have a sequencer and preset beats you can tweak. That limits your choice quite a bit. I don't know many good software drum machines like that. Maybe Addictive Drums, too? How about picking up some good old hardware drum machine from ebay? Kawai, Alesis, and Yamaha rhythm machines are still highly regarded in Industrial circles.

I just recently reverted to a whole hardware setup again. I only use computer for tracking. I'm not letting it go this time. It feels so much more enjoyable.

 

Maybe stop looking at loops as a whole, and start slicing and dicing while adding effects. Go for something unusually rhythmic and interesting. dBlue Glitch v1 (free) or v2, Turnado, Stutter edit, FL Slicer, and a variety of free glitch/slice vsts will give you variety in your loops. Also, try beatburner - i think it's free now. I like to come up with a sequence at random, with barely any regard to context, then try to tailor it to the main idea. FL Studio as a sequencer tool is definitely a way to go! You could also sample some Depeche Mode, Wumpscut, Front 242 one shots and layer them over your kit's sequence. ;-)

Sure Geist and Battery are great tools! FL Studio will allow you to load up random sounds, or a crafted set of sounds, etc.., and then you can throw random sequences into the roll mode and quickly sift through controlled chaos, and then tailor it when you come across something interesting. Don't count out Ableton with a launchpad and built in tools either, utilizing note on/off triggering. A simple GATE and its s/c can be your friend at that point too.

 

Last edited: Apr 9, 2016

Dang I love this forum! Lots of good ideas. A little overwhelming, but better to be that than underwhelmed and not motivated.

I do have lots of loops other than Big Fish and I have tried to slice and dice some, but I guess I'm just not educated enough on how to take those loops and... well... essentially mess them up for the more industrial type sound. The best I got is taking some hip hop beat, doing some crazy eq and then throwing distortion on it and "sometimes" when coupled with my regular rock acoustic drums, it sounds pretty good... kinda like some driving Filter tracks.

I think I might give Geist a try. I will also look into things like Glitch. I think I tried something like Glitch long ago, but I didn't understand how to use it and didn't give it a true chance. Sometimes when I really want to, um, "mess things up," I don't know exactly what to Glitch (used as a verb here).

Thanks for the tips everyone! I might have to come back with more specific examples of what I'm after, but for now I think I got some pretty good things to check out.

BR

 

For drum mangling i would suggest Spectrasonics Stylus RMX, a sadly very underrated bit of drum software.

If you want to mix up a drum loop, it has an amazing thing called Chaos Designer, check this video out ( the chaos bit starts at about 3:00 in).

 

For loops mangling, never underestimate the power of a Gate. That's why I have Drawmer gate and use it religiously on most things. People tend to think gates are important only for cutting the noise down, but gates are actually very creative audio tools, just as compressors.

 

Last edited: Apr 10, 2016